Bauer Quantum Physics and God

Introduction to a New Worldview
1. Auflage 2023
ISBN: 978-3-7578-3166-0
Verlag: BoD - Books on Demand
Format: EPUB
Kopierschutz: 6 - ePub Watermark

E-Book, Englisch, 250 Seiten

Quantum physics and the theory of relativity have shaken our conception of reality. They have made us realize that the universe is not as we perceive it. Religion and philosophy have so far failed to adapt our view of the world on the basis of these findings. Thus, together with the reader, the author sets out to clarify the fundamental questions of life. He skillfully juxtaposes convincing answers from different fields of knowledge. Scientific chapters about the world of quantum objects, space and time, or the origin and evolution of the universe stand in stark contrast to chapters about scientifically unexplainable events such as miracles, spiritualistic phenomena, findings about life after death, and reincarnation. In addition, the author discusses the atheistic worldview. The scientific sections are easily understandable, especially since they are, to a large extent, free of technical terms and formulas.  In the religious chapters, the author draws parallels between ideas from all religions (especially Hinduism, Buddhism, and Taoism) and scientific findings. Descriptions of the God-experiences of spiritual masters from all times, cultures, and religions as well as personal anecdotes and stories imagined by the author provide manifold paradigm shifts in the detailed consideration of one and the same thing: the ultimate reason of our existence and the meaning of life.

Manfred Bauer was born in Sudetenland (a region that is now part of the Czech Republic) in 1944. After having been expelled from that country at the end of World War II, he grew up in Bavaria (southern Germany). He has always been deeply interested in finding an answer to people's fundamental questions about the existence of God and the meaning of life. In his attempt to do so, he has been delving into religion, science, philosophy, and esotericism since his youth. Regular yoga exercises and meditation have been conducive to broadening his worldview not only in theory, but also in practice. He spent his entire professional career in the German tax administration and worked for many years in the field as an auditor, tax investigator, and head of department. As such, he was in a position to look behind the scenes of our society day in, day out. As it happens, one of the aims of this book is to unveil the reality that is hidden behind our apparent everyday reality and to help you draw consequences for how you live your life. The author has been married for over 50 years, has three children and five grandchildren. He lives in Saarland (western Germany).

Autoren/Hrsg.

Bauer, Manfred

Leseproben

Foreword
Some time ago, after having attended a philosophy course at a further education college for a few years, I came to the conclusion that the prevailing view of the world was very incomplete and could definitely be improved. Having been engaged since my youth in the study of religious and scientific answers to questions such as "What is the real nature of our world?" and "What does the word 'God' actually mean?", I find it rather disconcerting that key scientific findings of the last one to two hundred years have hardly entered the consciousness of the general public. These discoveries have not even been taken up by mainstream philosophy. Although there are many popular science and religious books that present such findings accurately, they are usually too difficult for laypersons to understand. Moreover, these books often focus on single subject areas and therefore do not provide an overall view. It is this unsatisfactory situation which has prompted me to try to write a book that would be readable by everyone who is seriously interested in these issues. The present volume contains as few technical terms as possible (unavoidable ones are followed by an explanation) and just one formula (E = mc2), which is explained in detail. One of its main objectives is to examine whether these recent scientific findings are in tune with religious ideas or disprove them. Unless you have already formed an irrevocable opinion, you may see the world with different eyes after having read this book. I very much hope that all this has made you curious enough to dispel any reservations you might have. Are you willing to be taken out of your comfort zone? If you are, let me come to the point! "What is truth?" 1 When Jesus was taken to him, Pilate asked this question and shrugged his shoulders maybe in perplexity or from lack of interest. Is there an absolute truth? Opinions differ widely. Whatever yours may be, I invite you to have a fundamental rethink. The universe we live in has come into being and keeps going according to the laws of nature. These laws are the same everywhere and are inescapable. By now, scientists have discovered most of these laws. As a result, you would expect civilized society to have a fairly uniform view of the material world. However, as you surely know, it is not so, but rather like a mare's nest. At one end of the spectrum, there is the belief that God created the world in seven days, at the other the conviction that there is no need for such a creator because the world emerged by chance out of nothing. About midway between both lies the theory that the universe is the product of God's spirit, was his idea, and is ruled by his laws. The trouble is the universe can only have come into being in one way. There can only be one possibility, one truth! So, which is the correct version? What about us, humans? There are equally divergent opinions about the purpose of our existence. According to the scripture-based religions – Judaism, Christianity, and Islam – we come into being in the womb, where we are provided with a soul newly created by God. We have free will. How we use it determines whether we live in heaven or hell after death. Both are eternal and can no longer be changed. By contrast, Eastern religions are based on the belief that the soul is not created, but is part of God. Your soul existed before your life and continues to evolve from life to life through the process of reincarnation. The purpose of life is the exit from this so-called "wheel of life" and the expansion of consciousness into the divine. There is one point on which all these religions agree, namely that matter is a creation of God's spirit. "It's all nonsense," say atheists, "there is only matter. Spirit is a product of the brain's circuitry. God is just wishful thinking." Natural scientist Carl Vogt (1817–1895) was of the opinion that brain matter produces thoughts much like a kidney produces urine. According to this belief, everything that exists – including us humans – is basically controlled by the laws of nature, which in turn are based on the principle of chance. Free will, our apparent ability to make decisions, is merely a product of our imagination. As a result, life can have no objective meaning. After death, like a broken radio, we are thrown on the scrapheap. It is pointless or rather impossible to strive for something higher because striving presupposes free will. As you can see, although there can only be one correct explanation for our existence, there is quite a jumble of worldviews, and this state of affairs is not getting us any nearer to the answers we are looking for. For thousands of years, clever minds from the fields of religion and philosophy have been trying to present a uniform worldview that everyone could agree with, but none of them has succeeded so far. In earlier centuries, people had no way of explaining the world causally. Therefore, every ethnic group made up their own stories. Inexplicable natural phenomena were attributed to gods. Germanic peoples, for example, believed thunder and lightning to be manifestations of the god Donar's displeasure. In similar fashion, during thunderstorms one of my aunts used to tell her children, "Listen! God is grumbling." As for the rainbow, it could of course only be construed as a sign that God had calmed down and was reconciled with his people. How else could such a wonderful sign appear in the sky? It was only through modern natural sciences, which explored the boundaries of our universe, that more clarity emerged about material processes. The results of scientific research provided insights into the universe, from its smallest parts (elementary particles) to its largest ones (solar systems and galaxies). Among other things, they dispelled medieval misconceptions about the position of the Earth in our solar system. Since natural sciences explicitly limit themselves to the material nature of things, it is up to philosophy and religion to give a spiritual or religious interpretation of their findings. Religions are known to assume that the world has a spiritual structure. But since the scripture-based religions in particular are dogmatic in nature, it is difficult for them to abandon firmly established views, even when such views have been made obsolete by scientific progress. Dogmatics does not seek the truth. It produces it. As a result, it sometimes comes up with descriptions of God and human life that are not reasonable. The teachings of the founders of religions (such as Jesus) were often not properly understood by their first disciples, who interpreted them according to their own ideas. Later, ancient or medieval ideas were added and remained popular and unchecked for many centuries. All religions find it difficult to question such dogmatic views – even if recent findings have proved them nonsensical. The lack of contribution from the field of philosophy is another sad story. You would actually expect philosophers to integrate scientific knowledge and spiritual phenomena into a unified worldview. Unfortunately, most of them seem too caught up in their own thoughts to be interested in such an undertaking. Recent scientific findings as well as reports of supernatural occurrences such as miracles have been ignored by the majority of modern philosophers. Those who have dealt at length with such data are few and far between. With a few exceptions, modern philosophers in particular tend to provide no justification whatsoever for their assumption that God does not exist. As a consequence, they usually disregard him in their considerations and often hold a materialistic view of the world. The worldview taught by a given philosopher is often one of his or her own devising. That view is often discarded by the next generation of philosophers and so on in a seemingly endless process. Whereas natural sciences have constantly evolved and are characterized by broad consensus, humanities scholars have not yet been able to come close to agreeing on a common basis. Apart from Plato and a few others, they have not yet developed a foundation that could lead to a convincing worldview. As far as philosophy is concerned, this issue has been marked by the absence of any significant progress since the ancient Greek philosophers (e.g. Plato, Aristotle, etc.), i.e. for about 2500 years. Why have science, religion, and philosophy not yet agreed on a consensual and universally valid view of the world? It seems to me that there have not been enough attempts at a cross-disciplinary approach. Theologians, philosophers, and scientists tend to stick to their own discipline. They overspecialize. During a conversation with a computer science professor, I once remarked that I had the impression that scientists cannot see the forest for the trees. He replied that it was indeed a case of everyone seeing only their own little tree and nothing beyond that. Natural scientists have reached a common consensus, but generally also hold a materialistic view of the world. Whenever they take spiritual views into account, they are considered unscientific. Members of the clergy are bound by the religious views of their community. If they hold dissenting opinions, they are reprimanded or silenced. There are many well-known examples, but let me just mention a few relatively recent ones: Teilhard de Chardin, Hans Küng, Eugen Drewermann. Human society is characterized by what I would call "negative-selection advancement", i.e. the fact you are most likely to be promoted if you toe the line. Those who are openly...